The event which was the start for this history was not in itself anything
significant. In 1802, just before another war with Persia (1804-1813), a
staff-trumpeter sergeant named Samson Yakovlevich Makintsev deserted from
the Nizhnii-Novgorod Dragoon Regiment (Note 1). The reason for his flight
is not known. Among the Nizhnii-Novgorod men, tradition held that he had
stolen the mouthpieces from the regiment's silver trumpets. That may or may
not be so, but nevertheless the mouthpieces had disappeared.

Giving himself up to the Persians, Makintsev entered the shah's service and
was made a naib (lieutenant) in the Erivan Infantry Regiment. The
crown prince, Abbas-Mirza, was forming a regular army and gladly received
Russian deserters. Makintsev set to actively recruit fugitives into his company,
and soon, upon an inspection of the regiment, he earned the approval of the
prince and promotion to yaver (major). Now events began to go faster.
At the next review, deserters already made up one-half of the Erivan Regiment.
Having again been praised, the deserters expressed their dissatisfaction
with the regiment's commander, Mamed-Khan, and asked that Makintsov be assigned
in his place. Abbas-Mirza compromised by organizing a separate battalion
of deserters and giving command to Makintsov, who became serkheng
(colonel) and took the name Samson-Khan (Note 2). Since the Russians proved
to be the best trained part of his army, the prince enrolled them into his
guards. Now Samson-Khan recruited not only deserters, but also local Armenians
and Nestorians. For the most part the officers were fugitive Russian officers
from the Transcaucasian nobility. The majority of the battalion (including
Makintsov) kept their Christian faith.

In the meantime, the war between Russia and Persian reached an apogee. The
Russian battalion went with Abbas-Mirza's forces to Aslanduz. Here on 19-20
October, 1812, the deserters first surrounded and then in a terrible battle
practically annihilated the soldiers of General P. S. Kotlyarevskii (Note
3). Of the battalion's few survivors, some returned to Russia in accordance
with the Gulistan peace treaty. The more persevering, headed by Samson-Khan,
began to form a new battalion. Using enticements, money, and cunning, they
quickly made up their losses. The commander of the Khoisk column reported
"that... Samson, now in Abbas-Mirza's complete confidence, is trying to increase
the number of Russian deserters as much as possible, and sends people out
to persuade our soldiers and, when they are away from their units, ply them
with wine and seize them. Our soldiers know of the trust Abbas-Mirza places
in Samson, who wears general's epaulettes, and of the benefits given out
to those who desert to him, and under these circumstances they are agreeable
to this..." (Note 4). Such a state of affairs greatly perturbed the Russian
authorities.

In 1817 the deserters met with A. P. Yermolov's diplomatic mission near Tavriz:
"This battalion was made up of big men; the officers were Russian soldiers.
All were dressed in Persian coats, had long hair, and wore fur fleece-covered
papakha caps. Their faces betrayed these rogues; the men were all handsome,
well-formed, clean, and of mature age. This battalion was called the
Yengi-Musulman [new Muslims - A.K.]. They had already fought against us,
and prisoners taken from them by Kotlyarevskii were hanged and bayonetted.
Now they all ask to be taken back, and we have hopes of returning them..."
- wrote Staff-Captain N. N. Murav'ev, who with Colonel G. T. Ivanov had been
assigned to interogate the deserters (Note 5).

The Persians promised not to hinder those deserters who wished to return,
but in secret they took the battalion out of Tavriz, locked it in barracks,
and put fetters on the soldiers. To Yermolov, though, they announced that
the battalion had set off to pacify the Kurds. Perceiving this bald deceptoin,
Yermolov quarreled with Abbas-Mirza and refused to recognize him as the heir
to the throne. The frightened prince delivered 40 deserters, but Yermolov
would not even accept them, demanding that first Makintsev be hanged. In
the end, the talks accomplished nothing.

Requests for the return of deserters were continued in 1819 by A.S. Griboedov,
the secretary of the Russian mission. He even managed to question the deserters,
and although Persian officials secretly "harangued them to come back, promising
them women and drink", he persuaded 168 men to return. In a paradoxical farewell
on 30 August, Abbas-Mirza "enjoined the soldiers to henceforth serve their
sovereign with the same loyalty and devotion as they had served him, and
in the meantime he gave me (A.S. Griboedov - A.K.) instructions on their
future wellbeing, so that it would be well for them in Russia." This interval
ended with a scandal. Abbas-Mirza summoned Makintsev. But Griboedov "would
not stand for it and declared that it was not only shameful to have this
scoundrel among his servitors, but it was even more shameful to present him
to a noble Russian officer... --"He is my officer."-- "Even if he is your
general, for me he is a rogue, a villain, and I will not even look at him."
On 4 September, 1819, Griboedov's group left Tavriz, and soon on 12 September
155 former deserters crossed the Russian border (some were left on the way)
(Note 6). Those who returned were pardoned and released "to live freely in
their mother country" (Note 7). Of those who stayed in Persia, the majority
(about two-thirds) had accepted Islam, which saved them from being turned
back over to Russia. They did not study religious formalities and at prayer
services they habitually crossed themselves.

By the beginning of the 1820s the battalion had acquired a permanent
organization. The deserters were divided into family men and bachelors. The
married men (about 200) were given land and lived well. They formed the battalion
reserve, and with them were quartered the battalion's bachelor desertors
during such times as the unit was stood down with the men released to their
homes (which did not happen often, since they carried out palace guard duties
for the heir to the throne). During wartime, the family men formed a company
of volunteers. The bachelors formed four permanent companies (each of four
platoons), which in 1831 were divided into two Russian and two Polish (the
number of companies depended on the availability of one or the other
nationality). National differences were carefully maintained, although this
did not affect the battalions fighting ability. The number of deserters was
not constant, but by analogy with the organizational structure of the regular
sarbaz infantry the approximate composition of the unit would be as
shown in the table.

IN A BATTALION:

Serheng (colonel, battalion commander)  1

Yaver (major, junior field-grade officer)  1

Yassaul (senior battalion adjutant among the officers)  1

Vekil-bashi (sergeant, junior battalion adjutant)  1

Sultan-alyamdar-bashi and his naibs (standard bearer (on parade) and his
two helpers, who usually carried the standard. Note: It is not known for
sure whether the Bagaderan had their own flag. In any case, not one of the
sources known to us mentions one.)  3

Tabelzan-bashi (chief of all the battalion's musicians) - 1

Hakim (doctor) - 1

Djara (surgeon)  1

Vekil-bashi (NCO who looked after the infirmary)  1

IN EACH COMPANY:

Sultan (captain, company commander)  1

Naib-Oval (lieutenant) - 1

Naib-Duyum (sublieutenant)  1

Bek-Zade (ensign) - 3

Vekil (sergeant) - 2

Mubashir (supply sergeant)  1

Dahbashi (corporal)  10

Sarbaz (private)  100

(Additionally, each company had 1 drummer and 1 fifer; every 5 sarbaz soldiers
were authorized a servant to prepare their food and look after their belongings
in the supply train. The supply train consisted of pack horses and donkeys
(1 for every 2 sarbaz).)

At first the battalion did not have its own band, which greatly grieved
Samson-Khan. Therefore he gladly welcomed three Russian musicians run away
from Kumaira. They were immediately presented to Abbas-Mirza, prescribed
a high salary, and told to pick a choir of thirty men and organize a band.
This band was the best in the Persian army, "although many of its instruments
were not in complete working order".

For its many military achievements the battalion received the title of
Bagaderan - i.e. great warriors (in the European sense - grenadiers).
It especially proved itself during the Perso-Turkish War of 1821-23, particularly
at the town of Van, where it incurred many casualties, and also at the victory
of Toprak-Kale.

The new Russo-Persian War (1826-28) put the deserters in a difficult situation.
Samson-Khan declined to fight, declaring: "We swore on the Holy Gospel that
we would not shoot at our co-religionists and we will not change our oath"
(Note 8). But Samson did not manage to stay in Tavriz, since Abbas-Mirza
named him his military advisor. The battalion itself went on campaign under
the condition that it be in the reserve. However, at the battle at Yelizavetopol
on 13 September, 1826, the deserters defended the right flank of the center
of the Persian position. They were led by Kasum-Khan, who was commander of
Abbas-Mirza's Second (Persian) Guard Battalion (Note 9). Apparently, the
battalion joined the operational army on 30 August along with the shah's
guards, and Kasum-Khan took command as senior in rank after Samson. By 1829,
after making good their losses with Russian prisoners, the battalion numbered
1400 men. But an cholera epidemic in 1830 reduced its strength. A short time
before, in 1828, there deserted to Persia an ensign in the Nasheburg Infantry
Regiment - Yevstafii Vasil'evich Skryplev. He entered the shah's service
and married the daughter of Samson-Khan. Makintsev made his son-in-law a
serheng and commander of the Bagaderan. He himself, being already a general,
took the position of the battalion's honorary colonel-in-chief [chef].

In 1830-32 the battalion took part in marches to Khorasan against rebellious
Kurds, and to Turkmenia. The wild Kurds did not fear Persian units, but were
very afraid of the deserters. Among them there even arose the legend that
Russian soldiers had cartridges in their fingers, ready at any moment to
shoot forth. At the siege of Kuchana (1832), several of the famed Russians
lay dead under the walls of the fortress. The Kurds surrounded the bodies,
but would not touch them until they had carefully doused the hands of the
slain. In 1833 the battalion distinguished itself at Herat. In one of their
sorties the Afghans were defeated and took refuge in the Rouze-Gakh citadel,
which held a famous tomb of a local saint. For this reason the storming of
the citadel was entrusted to Samson Khan's "unbelievers", who took the place
by assault. The death of Abbas-Mirza on 9 October, 1833, put an end to the
siege of Herat, and the battalion returned to Tavriz. The new heir to the
throne, Mohammed-Mirza, took the Bagaderan under his patronage, which in
a year helped him definitely secure the throne. After Fath-Ali-Shah's death,
the prince's uncle, Zeli-Sultan, usurped power. But with strong forces Mohammed
advanced from Tavriz to Teheran and forced the rebels to yield. The Russian
battalion occupied the capital's citadel and city barracks, and became the
palace guard.

In 1835 Persian forces campaigned in Khorasan against the Uzbeks, Turkmen,
and rebellious Kurds. In the mountains of Kurdistan one column fell into
an ambush. The Persians were broken and ran away in panic. But a reserve
made up of 250 men from the Russian battalion formed into a square and repulsed
the attack with a volley. Retreating through hordes of Kurdish horsemen,
they reached their camp safely. An Italian doctor in the shah's service who
was saved in the Russian square wrote to the Persian commander telling all
about this. Depressed by the flight of his warriors, he sagaciously noted:
"O Hakim (Doctor)! ...Now I understand why these infidel Russians are invincible.
They do not have that ability which we Persians possess to a high degree:
they cannot run, and stand like a wall if they are attacked by the enemy."
(Note 10.)

In 1836 the Bagaderan (595 men) took part in a campaign into Turkmen territory,
and in the fall of 1837 it again set out for Herat. The battalion crossed
the Afghan frontier numbering 450 men. However, during the course of the
long and unsuccessful siege of the fortress it received reinforcements, and
on 30 May, 1838, it numbered 585 bayonets. Finally, on 12 June, 1838, it
was decided to undertake a general assault on the city. The author of the
troop dispositions  Colonel I.F. Blaramberg of the Russian mission
 asked that the battalion be selected for the main attack, but as the
Persians knew that the Afghans would put their best forces opposite the Russians,
they put the battalion with the troops of Veli-Khan, who performed a diversionary
maneuver. Everything ended very sadly. The self-assured Veli-Khan took it
into his head to break into Heart before anyone else and take the victors
laurels for himself. Violating the deployment plans, he rushed to storm the
fortress walls. Samson-Khan was forced to support this madness. At the height
of the attack a bullet struck down Veli-Khan. The Persians picked up the
body of their chief and ran back to camp, where they began to mourn his worthy
death. For long minutes the Russian battalion was left under the wall completely
alone, with bullets and stones pouring onto it. Only at this moment did the
Persian artillery think to cover the flight of their units. Of course, most
of their hits were on the Russian battalion. The wounded Samson-Khan ordered
a retreat. The cost to the battalion for this failed assault was terrible:
4 officers and 50 "bogatyrs" [so-called after the heroic warriors of Russian
legend - M.C.] were killed and about 200 men were wounded  i.e. almost
half the personnel. (Note 11.) In the end, the nine-month siege of the fortress
collapsed, and the battalion (about 400 men) returned to Teheran. Here stunning
news awaited it.

In 1837, Nicholas I traveled to the Caucasus. The Persian emissary
Naser-ed-Din-Mirza went out to greet the emperor, along with the commander
of forces in Azerbaidjan, Mohammed-Khan. In talking with the latter, the
tsar insisted on the discharge of the Russian battalion and the return of
the deserters. It was impossible to refuse. On 25 January, 1838, Nicholas
announced an amnesty for the deserters, except those who were accused of
murder in Russia. Upon this decision, a new plenipotentiary minister was
sent to Persia  A.O. Dyugamel. Before him went the direct excecutor
of the mission  Captain L.L. Albrant. Graf Simonich (the former Russian
ambassador) went towards Herat and personally informed Mohammed-Shah. The
shah promised not to hinder the return of the deserters and to release them
at the end of the siege. At the same time he sent word to Mohammed-Khan and
Prince Kahraman-Mirza, the governor of Azerbaidjan, that he had decided to
release the battalion reserve. On 13 August, 1838, Albrant began to receive
deserters at Udzhan. Having overcome their distrust, by the end of October
he had sent to Russia 142 deserters (9 under arrest) along with their wives
and children  327 persons in all.

In the meantime five active companies arrived. Albrant rode to Teheran to
try to persuade them to come to Russia. He overcame the sabotage attempts
of the Persian authorities and by the beginning of December, 1838, had induced
almost all the deserters to agree. The 1st (Russian) Company asked to be
Albrants own company, which he accepted, transferring into it the wildest
soldiers. The only refusal was the Polish company (3 officers, 80 men), which
the English had promised to take to Baghdad for form a legion under their
own flag (with the failure of the siege of Herat, the English fogot about
the company). At this point Albrant seized their officers. The company rose
in mutiny and marched out of Teheran, but alone and left without support
 it agreed to go to Russia. At the demand of the shah, Albrant left
behind all the battalions musical instruments except for fifes and
signal drums, but the Russian musicians went and took them with them.

On 6 December, 1838, the battalion celebrated the name day of Nicholas I.
Overcome by the ceremony, Skryplev decided to go to Russia. This news stunned
Samson-Khan: his daughter  the pregnant wife of Skryplev  miscarried
out of fear, but followed her husband. On 22 December, the battalion marched
out of Teheran and in exactly one month arrived in Tabriz. Here it stayed
15 days, collecting the wives of deserters, after which it went on further.
On 11 February, the battalion crossed the Russian border singing and with
drums beating, and it conducted a prayer service for its safe exit from Persia.
On 5 March, 1839, the deserters arrived in Tiflis. In all, 1084 persons came
out of Persia: 597 "bogatyrs", 206 wives, and 281 children. (Note 12.)

The fates of the returned deserters were varied. The married men were enrolled
in the Caucasian Line Cossack Host and settled in cossack villages. Bachelors
were assigned to Finnish line battalions and the Archangel Garrison Battalions
(their years in Persian service were counted as being in the Russian army).
Thirty old and decrepit men were released to their motherland. The Polish
officers went home. All those who had converted to Islam received church
dispensation of their "renunciation of the faith, caused by long sojourn
in Persia and extreme circumstances". Skryplev was pardoned and accepted
as a sotnik [Cossack lieutenant] in the Caucasian Host, where he settled
on the Laba Line. In battles with the mountain tribesmen, he rose to the
rank of yesaul [Cossack captain] and became ataman of the Chamlyksk settlement.
The deserters on the line continued to consider him their chief, so that
"a single word from him was absolute law for us Persian cossacks: it was
only necessary to say This I ask as sargang", and every man would crawl
through fire and water." (Note 13.) By the end of his life, Skryplevs
eyesight began to fail due to his constant use of the henna with which he
colored his eyebrows and eyelids. He died in the early 1860s, full
of memories of his days of power in Persia.

The deserters remaining in Persia continued to serve the shah, but they no
longer formed an independent fighting unit. These were mainly those men who
had long ago accepted Islam or had committed serious crimes in Russia.
Samson-Khan ended his military career with the taking of Meshed in 1849.
He died a few months later, aged 73, and was buried in Surgule under the
altar of the Orthodox church he had built. (Note 14.)

UNIFORM: Information about the Russian battalions uniform is almost
non-existent. It is only possible to be sure that the appearance of the bogatyrs
was similar to that of the sarbaz infantry, distinguished only by the tidiness
of the uniforms and the correctness of the accouterments. At first, in the
Erivan Regiment, deserters were apparently wearing green coats. In any case,
the Russian traveller V.P. Borozdna wrote in 1817: "The Erivan serbazy
have green single-breasted jackets with red collars, wide linen pants, and
half-boots with little buttons, into which are tucked the lower part of the
pants. Privates do not have beards, only moustaches, while officers are permitted
to have beards. Their weaponry consists of English muskets whose bayonets,
as well as the cartridge pouches, hang on cross straps. Officers have
sabers." (Note 15.)

Nothing is exactly known in regard to changes in the uniform after the battalion
was separated as an independent unit (such changes must surely have occurred).
The Russian historian A.P. Berzhe (1828-1886), researching the Bagaderan,
writes that Samson-Khan dressed his deserters in the Russian manner. No sources
for this are given, and at the same time the diarist N.N. Muravev has
a definite eyewitness account in 1817 that the deserters "were all dressed
in Persian coats with long hair and fleece caps". Thus, the Bagaderan
uniform was of the sarbaz pattern, but its distinctions can only be guessed
at. In 1819 a group of deserters which accompanied A.S. Griboedov back to
Russia was disarmed. Griboedov then "ordered that iron tips be put onto
fifty lances, which were distributed to his group". With these improvised
weapons the group safely crossed the border. The bogatyrs who accepted Islam
and remained in Persia grew beards and side curls which were only cut off
in 1838 at Albrants insistence, during which the younger men forcibly
trimmed the hair of the more resistant older ones.

In May of 1828, the Russian consul in Tavriz "made a written memorandum
for His Majesty regarding these deserters wearing Russian medals and
the officers of one regiment wearing Russian epaulettes. In regard to these
I later received the answer that the wearing of such distinctions was most
strictly forbidden, and I noted that the epaulettes were indeed removed".
(Note 16.) However, epaulettes later reappeared in the battalion. This is
confirmed by the only reliable depiction of the bogatyrs  a picture
of "Entry into Tavriz of the battalion of Russian deserters returning
to the fatherland". This picture was painted in 1839 by the Italian artist
Calumbari, who was with Prince Kakhraman-Mirza. Struck by the fine appearance
of the Bagaderan, Calumbari applied his paint to canvas and presented the
effort to Albrant. The location of the painting, which was kept by the Albrant
family, is unknown. But a lithograph of it allows use to judge the uniform
of the battlion. The lower ranks are depicted in the guards uniform given
to them in, apparently, 1834, when the battalions patron, Mohammed-Mirza,
became shah of Persia  red coats with dark-blue collars and cuffs.
Officers  in dark-blue nizam coats with epaulettes.

I.F. Blaramberg noted in 1838 that "The Russian battalion was the
best in the entire army: this was true in uniforms as well as order and
discipline." Albrants memoirs give a few more lines describing
the external appearance of the "bogatyrs". Namely, the deserters with families
came to Albrant in Udzhan "drunk, with long hair, uncut beards, in various
clothing, so that they were not like soldiers, but like a gang of fierce
bandits." Apparently, this battalion of "bogatyrs" did not wear uniforms.
In Teheran, however, Albrant gave the following picture: "When riding
past the gates of the shahs harem-khan, I saw one of our soldiers on
guard duty: unshaven, he was sitting with his musket on his knees. Further
on I met with two more of our soldiers: one was in a Persian headdress, the
other in a uniform forage cap with a white cover, worn pulled down to one
side. They walked along merrily and with self-assurance." Before the
ceremony of 6 December, 1838, the "bogatyrs" fixed up worn clothing. "On
22 January," recalled Albrant, "we arrived from Teheran in Tavriz.
The battalion entered the town with drums beating and the choir singing,
as if after a victory The variety of clothing, the muskets with and
without bayonets, and the brave and bold visages of our soldiers, whose tanned
faces were made glowing by wind and sun, all made a fearsome appearance.
This drew the attention of the Persians and those foreigners who were in
Tavriz."

Notes:

1) The service record of (Lieutenant General V.V. Grushenkos)
Nizhnii-Novgorod Dragoon Regiment for 1 January, 1800, has the following
about him: Samson Makantsov [sic], son of Yakovlev. 19 years of age, height
2 arshins, 4 1/2 vershoks (162 cm). White face, light blond hair, grey eyes.
Can read and write Russian. Unmarried. Taken into Major O.A. Kulikovskiis
squadron as a dragoon on 14 September, 1799, from the soldiers children
with the regiment who had attained adulthood. (RGVIA, f. 489, op. 1, d. 2476,
l. 1506-116.)

2) Russian documents stubbornly continued to call Makintsev a major, even
when he had already become a general (sartib).

14) According to the above-mentioned service record for the Nizhnii-Novgorod
Regiment (Note 1), Makintsevs year of birth would be 1780. Probably,
by the end of his life he himself did not know exactly how old he was.